I referred to the US system of giving the veterans the option of utilising the facilities on camp (gym, mess, bars, shops(!)). Thus, whilst you are still in and security cleared you could apply for a pass (make it one/two station specific if you will) and then still be able to socialise with the chaps you served with as they move on over the next 5 years. Not too much to ask for is it?
This is almost correct, but oddly the deviations move in two directions. While under certain circumstances honorably discharged veterans retain some access for 24 months, in general veterans do not receive lifetime access. Retirees do.
Recreation facilities are actually open to the general public provided one applies for and receives a base access pass, after a reasonably thorough background check. The base golf course with its expensive restaurant needs all the customers it can get! (Side note, our base recreation facilities now have to generate enough income to cover their own expenses or they are quickly shut down.)
As I read through this thread, I now understand Agatha Christie's character Captain Hastings...
So, should I expect to be addressed as "lef-tenant colonel" or "loo-tenant colonel" when I emigrate* and claim Debrett's says it's OK?
Perhaps I'll stick with 'Terry'; no one at the BGA clubs I've flown with seemed to care about anything other than my ability to get their glider(s) safely back on the ground!
*I don't really want to emigrate, but I would love to find a US Department of Defense job in the UK for a few years. Maybe by then the Air Cadet gliders will be back in service and I could be a civilian instructor (?), but that's a topic for a different thread. I am a member of our Civil Air Patrol here.
Terry
PS I've just discovered Foyle's War on Netflix, so speaking of titles, why are Deputy Chief Inspector Foyle and Sergeant Milner often addressed as "Mr."? That never happens on Morse or Lewis... I'm so confused!